The present invention generally relates to a shipping crate and more particularly to such a shipping crate made of tubular steel rails and is easily adjustable to varying sizes.
When shipping manufactured articles, it is a common practice to enclose the articles in some sort of packaging. This is done for several reasons, the most common being protection of the contents. During transit, cargo left unprotected would be subject to damage from other items being transported in the same vehicle, or from being dropped. Cargo is also enclosed in square or rectangular packages to ease stacking and maximize the amount of cargo that can be hauled.
These reasons for packaging are especially relevant to large articles, such as xe2x80x9cAll-terrain vehiclesxe2x80x9d (ATVs) and personal watercraft such as Jet-Skis. These items are quite heavy and of such a shape to make stacking impossible. The items are also expensive and their appearance is paramount. Therefore, it is desirable to package these types of items so as to protect them from damage during transport and allow the items to be stacked and placed adjacent to each other with a minimal amount of space between them, so as to maximize the amount of items shipped and to minimize the shifting of such heavy cargo during the shipping process.
Wooden crates for shipping such items are known in the art, and are the most prevalent means of encasing large items such as ATVs and personal watercraft. U.S. Pat. No. 5,720,403 issued to Sawyer on Feb. 24, 1998 discloses a generally rectangular shipping crate formed from plywood panels. Other wooden shipping containers are known in the art, and are used for their overall ability to protect contents and the ready availability of the raw materials needed to manufacture wooden crates.
These containers and crates have several shortcomings. They are not adjustable so as to accommodate differing sizes of cargo. Once a crate is made of a certain size, it cannot be adjusted. Wooden crates are difficult to pack and unpack. Often, glue or nails are used to seal the crate. This can result in dangerous conditions for the workers packing the crate, as glue is easily spilled on the workers or the cargo and nailguns are extremely dangerous for both the workers and cargo. Unpacking a wooden crate often involves crowbars and hammers to pry apart the sealed wood. This takes a great deal of time as well as being dangerous to workers and cargo.
Once an item is sealed inside a wooden crate, further inspection of the cargo is impractical, and further work on the item, such as paint touch-ups, is likewise impractical, as the item must be unpacked, the shortcomings of which have been addressed.
Wooden crates do not weather well, and cannot be stored outside if reuse is planned. Rain and other environmental forces damage wooden crates, causing weakening and collapse over time. Storage of unused crates is inefficient, as they cannot be broken down into component parts. Since they must be stored inside and at full size, a great deal of space is required for empty crates. Wooden containers often cannot be stacked very high, and cannot be lifted from all four sides, as the crates are often designed in such a way as to make them susceptible to damage if improperly lifted. These crates often cannot protect their cargo if turned on their side or top.
Wooden crates are also costly to manufacture, both in terms of manpower and in damage to the environment. Forests are leveled to provide the raw materials for crate building, and the crates themselves are not easily recycled. The wood comprising the crate may be infested with pests such as pine beetles, the importation of which can be damaging or prohibited. Many countries will not accept imported good in wooden crates.
Crates manufactured from other materials such as cardboard, fiberboard and metal are known in the art. U.S. Pat. No. 4,852,756 issued to Holladay on Aug. 1, 1989 describes a fiberboard and plywood shipping container for large, bulky objects. Other containers made from corrugated or stamped metal sheeting are known in the art.
These containers suffer from the same shortcomings as wooden crates, and are generally more expensive to fabricate. Metal containers offer greater protection for the cargo, but are generally heavier, which caused more difficulty in storage, transport and crating. Fiberboard and cardboard containers are lighter and easier to transport and store, but generally lack the protective ability and stacking capability of wooden and metal crates.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a metal shipping crate which is easily modifiable to accommodate differing sizes of cargo.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a metal shipping crate which is easy and safe to pack and unpack, reduces manpower needs for packing and unpacking, is more environmentally safe than the present art, and can be discarded after use or returned to the factory and reused.
It is yet a further object of the present invention to provide a metal shipping crate which can be stored outside and not suffer adversely from exposure to natural forces.
These as well as other objects are accomplished by providing a shipping crate made of tubular metal rails with separate top and bottom portions joined together with an intermediate portion, typically comprising four tubular metal posts. The intermediate portion can be easily adjusted to accommodate cargo of varying height.